First of all, thank you for the feedback--I'm glad you like the work I've been doing in this fandom. I must say that I enjoy playing with the characters precisely because they're so complicated.

As for Sloane's background--I think I came across the possibility in a fannish discussion. (I don't think it's well-established enough to be considered fanon.) At the time, I filed it away in the back of my mind, and it came to light when I started thinking for this piece. It gave me the ashes and the instinctive recoil at cremation, and I went from there. I assume it here because it's useful to me (and because I don't think the matter of Sloane's religion has ever been established); I'm not sure that's a very good answer for you, though.

For the record, I think that Sloane's real religious connection is to Rambaldi. But that doesn't affect the question of his background.